The Burning Giants
︎︎︎Trailer︎SYNOPSIS
A mysterious smoke covers western Thailand, triggering a strange infectious disease whose symptoms resemble burns inflicted by an invisible fire. A villager from the Karen ethnic group is arrested deep in the jungle and taken to a quarantine centre. There, he dreams of returning to his mountain homeland. His wife, who has sought refuge in Bangkok, shares the same longing. But their hope is threatened by forest rangers determined to burn down their village to make way for a national park. Beyond the veil of smoke, an abandoned theatre stands hidden in the jungle, haunted by ogre soldiers fleeing the King’s army in an ancient war reflecting the struggle of the villagers.
Yak
Awat Ratanapintha
Lak
Pakapol Srirongmuang
Aeva
Waywiree Ittianunkul
Thulee
Thanatwut Rodpai
Aepoh
Phunthida Phairuangkij
Chief
Sompong Teerawat Mulvilai
Wallop
Gandhi Wasuvitchayagit
︎CREW
Written and
Directed by
Phuttiphong Aroonpheng
Produced by
Mai Meksawan,
Tan Bee Thiam,
Ola Byszuk,
Anouk Sluizer
Director of Photography
Emo Weemhoff, NSC
Sound
Chalermrat Kaweewatta
Production Design
Sarawut Karwnamyen,
Wan Ping Looi
Costume Design
Keerati Modkeaw,
Monsicha Phromsri
Special Effects
June Goh
Editing
Daniel Hui
Colorist
Yov Moor
Music
Snowdrops -Christine Ott, Mathieu Gabry
Re-recording Mixer
Olivier Goinard
Associate Producers
Chatchai Chaiyon, Paranee Lerdwattanasombat
Original title
Yak Mai
International Title
The Burning Giants
Duration
118 min / Colour
Aspect Ratio
1.85:1
Screening Format
2K DCP
Sound
5.1
Year of Release
2026
Language
Thai, Karen
Subtitles
English
Country of production
Thailand, Singapore, France, the Netherlands
Production Companies
Diversion,
13 Little Pictures,
Nord-Ouest Films,
Sluizer Film Productions
In Association with
Lucky Number
With the support of
Ministry of Culture, Thailand;
Singapore Film Commission;
Aide aux cinémas du monde;
Région Île-de-France / Paris Region;
Netherlands Film Fund;
Hubert Bals Fund
PRESS
"This ambitious work is part quasi-realist pandemic tale and part meditation on Thai history, society and culture... A fascinating corrective to any nationalistic idea of monoculture.”
- Screen Daily
"There’s much to admire.”
- Variety
“The most powerful moments of the film come in the nanny’s journey into the forest. The cramped, shadowy interiors of the city give way to hazy, dreamlike expanses of forest, where she encounters abandoned Indigenous homes. In one particularly affecting scene, she sings in an empty house, calling for a spirit to “return to the forest”. Her song echoes the dance and song performed earlier by her husband while he is chained to a bed, both expressing a painful yearning for home. Enhanced by a minimalist, deeply atmospheric sound design, these dual laments become a powerful elegy for the displaced Karen people.”- Close-Up Culture
“In Thai director Phuttiphong Aroonpheng’s career to date, strange things have happened in the jungle, although for a distinct purpose. Those acres of tropical vegetation are imagined as a deeply political space as well as one where fantastical phenomena arise, which always induce a dark awe, with no tonal preciousness or whimsy to be found. In his breakthrough, Manta Ray, the 2018 Venice Orizzonti winner, we saw an armed soldier stalking the terrain, his uniform completely wrapped in sparkling Christmas lights. He returns to the section this year with The Burning Giants, whose opening scene sees a mysterious plume of smoke rising from a man-made space beneath the trees; whilst that initial description evokes a lair from a Sean Connery James Bond film, what Aroonpheng devises, as we discover later on, is even more imaginative and uncanny.”
- Cineuropa
- Screen Daily
"There’s much to admire.”
- Variety
“The most powerful moments of the film come in the nanny’s journey into the forest. The cramped, shadowy interiors of the city give way to hazy, dreamlike expanses of forest, where she encounters abandoned Indigenous homes. In one particularly affecting scene, she sings in an empty house, calling for a spirit to “return to the forest”. Her song echoes the dance and song performed earlier by her husband while he is chained to a bed, both expressing a painful yearning for home. Enhanced by a minimalist, deeply atmospheric sound design, these dual laments become a powerful elegy for the displaced Karen people.”- Close-Up Culture
“In Thai director Phuttiphong Aroonpheng’s career to date, strange things have happened in the jungle, although for a distinct purpose. Those acres of tropical vegetation are imagined as a deeply political space as well as one where fantastical phenomena arise, which always induce a dark awe, with no tonal preciousness or whimsy to be found. In his breakthrough, Manta Ray, the 2018 Venice Orizzonti winner, we saw an armed soldier stalking the terrain, his uniform completely wrapped in sparkling Christmas lights. He returns to the section this year with The Burning Giants, whose opening scene sees a mysterious plume of smoke rising from a man-made space beneath the trees; whilst that initial description evokes a lair from a Sean Connery James Bond film, what Aroonpheng devises, as we discover later on, is even more imaginative and uncanny.”
- Cineuropa
SALES AGENT
